{"id":1841,"date":"2019-01-30T17:32:36","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T17:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jacksonwhitelaw.com\/az-labor-employment-law\/?page_id=1841"},"modified":"2024-07-31T17:27:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T17:27:04","slug":"scheduled-outside-availability-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jacksonwhitelaw.com\/az-labor-employment-law\/blog\/scheduled-outside-availability-arizona\/","title":{"rendered":"Can an Employer Schedule You Outside Your Availability in Arizona?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

Like most states, Arizona is an at-will employment<\/a> state, which means that the employment agreement can be severed or altered by the employer and the employee at any time, for any reason that doesn\u2019t violate discrimination laws. Even if your employer hired you under the condition that you can\u2019t work certain days or certain hours, the employer has the right to right to disregard these conditions and schedule you outside of your availability when necessary. Should you refuse to work your scheduled shifts, your employer is within its rights to fire you.<\/p>\n

That said, most instances where an employer schedules an employee outside their availability window are due to simple mistakes or oversight. When an employer has multiple employees with various schedule conflicts, a scheduling mistake is bound to happen. The best course of action is to calmly bring the matter to your manager\u2019s attention, and politely remind them that you gave them plenty of advance notice about your availability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If scheduling you outside of your availability wasn\u2019t a mistake and the employer genuinely needs you to work that day or time, there\u2019s unfortunately nothing you can do unless there is a written agreement that pertains to the situation. The only exception would be that you cannot work on a certain day due to your deeply held religious beliefs<\/a>, such as not working on Sundays or on a particular religious holiday. In these cases, your rights are protected by federal anti-discrimination laws<\/a>, and your employer cannot force you to work on these days.<\/p>\n

In the rare case where you are protected by a written agreement (most employment agreements are informal), the best course of action is speak with a human resources representative and request that they honor the agreement. If HR refuses, you may need to consult with an employment law attorney<\/a> and take legal action to enforce the written agreement.<\/p>\n

What About Overtime Meetings?<\/h2>\n

Your employer has the right to schedule mandatory meetings anytime, even if it\u2019s outside of your standard availability window. The only requirement is that you must be paid overtime<\/a> if the scheduled meeting puts you over 40 hours for the week.<\/p>\n

Employment Contracts<\/h2>\n

There are three types of employment contracts that may apply to this situation:<\/p>\n